# Sarah Palin's Hairdresser



## Darla (Sep 16, 2008)

Is everyone burned out yet on Sarah Palin? well this article isn't so much about her, but her hairdresser. I thought you might find it interesting.

source

* The Upshot on Palin and Her Updo *





Jim Wilson/The New York Times

*LOCAL COLOR* Jessica Steele of the Beehive salon, where Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has been a client.

By JAN HOFFMAN

Published: September 12, 2008

THE customer has always been listed in the salonâ€™s appointment book as â€œSarah P.â€

Skip to next paragraph *Related*

*Times Topics: Sarah Palin*

*Times Topics: Hair*





Jim Wilson/The New York Times

Jessica Steele started the Beehive salon in the garage of her home.

â€œWe would talk about pedicures and manicures and moose and politics, all while Sarah was having foils in her hair and holding my baby on her lap,â€ said Jessica J. Steele, the owner of the Beehive Beauty Shop in Wasilla, Alaska, where Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential candidate, has visited over the last six years, most recently in July, refining her much-discussed updo.

Hair, of course, is never just about the hair. Intentionally or not, hairstyles help answer the votersâ€™ throw-down question: â€œWho does she think she is?â€

Hillary Clinton struggled for years to achieve hair credibility. Now Ms. Palinâ€™s upsweep is being praised and derided across the Internet. Do her bun and bangs signal that Ms. Palin does not want to attract attention to her appearance â€” even as she wants to remain presentably attractive?

Of course, a hairstyle may not tell you about her views on universal health care. But how Ms. Palin honed her image can be glimpsed at the Beehive, a tiny pink-collar haven in Wasilla, a mountain-rimmed community of less than 10,000.

According to Mrs. Steele and another Beehive employee, Ms. Palin has patronized the shop since at least 2002 (the McCain-Palin campaign did not reply to e-mail inquiries, but an assistant in the governorâ€™s office in Juneau said that there was back and forth between the shop and the governor).

The ballerina-pink Beehive, in a 1,400-square-foot ranch house, is a cut-and-color shop. A haircut is $30, discounted to $20 if you get the $95 color treatment. In a downstairs nursery, the stylistsâ€™ babies play with mannequin heads. In a phone interview, Mrs. Steele, 37, described a kind of â€œSteel Magnoliasâ€ on permafrost, featuring Ms. Palin as a recurring presence.

Ms. Palinâ€™s appointments were multitasking events, Mrs. Steele recounted. The governor would sit in full foil, checking her BlackBerry, writing speeches and chatting with customers as her daughter Piper played nearby.

â€œBrooke, my manager, is always telling hunting stories with Sarah,â€ Mrs. Steele said. â€œBrooke is a cute blond babe, but she wants to get a bigger grizzly than her husband got last year.â€ (For the record, Brooke Mongeau said her husbandâ€™s grizzly was nine and a half feet.)

As Mrs. Palin became a public figure, Mrs. Steele said, she gave more thought to her image.

â€œSheâ€™s very involved in her look and how sheâ€™s perceived,â€ Mrs. Steele said. â€œWe would talk a lot about how if she looked too pretty or too sexy, people wouldnâ€™t listen to her. How important it was for people to see her as an intelligent, smart woman. It was comical when her hair was down, how big a difference that would make, especially when she was running for governor.â€

With more-established salons throughout the valley, the Beehive would seem a surprising choice for Wasillaâ€™s then-mayor. Mrs. Steele started the salon in 1997 when she, a recently separated mother of two, put a salon chair in her garage and painted the interior Barbie pink.

Mrs. Steele relied on word of mouth through local congregations: â€œWeâ€™re all really strong Christians in this shop.â€

Around 2000, the mayor called, needing rescue from a bad color job. Back then, Mrs. Steele recalled, Ms. Palin often wore her hair loose. â€œSheâ€™d just say, â€˜Whatever is quick and easy, letâ€™s just roll up our sleeves and get this going.â€™ â€

Eventually, Mrs. Steele suggested that Ms. Palin put up her hair because â€œSarah wanted to look more professional and ready to work and not come across as high maintenance and fussy.â€

The updo had another benefit. â€œSarahâ€™s short,â€ Mrs. Steele said, and wanted to look taller in front of cameras.

When Mrs. Steele heard that Ms. Palin was running for governor, Mrs. Steele called her: â€œLetâ€™s get you all picked up for campaigning!â€

The two experimented with full bangs, side-swept bangs, clips, curls, twists and blond streaks. â€œWe just kept polishing her look,â€ Mrs. Steele said. â€œWe would try more warm, red and coppery highlights or more of a contrast with pale highlights, not to be severe but just more striking.â€


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## Darla (Sep 16, 2008)

Part 2 of the article

Over the years, Mrs. Steele said, their lives have intertwined. Ms. Palin attended Mrs. Steeleâ€™s bridal shower; this spring, the five â€œBeehive Beauty Shop girlsâ€ were invited to a baby shower for Ms. Palinâ€™s son. Hairdresser and client belong to Wasilla Bible Church.






During Palin appointments, Mrs. Steele, divorced and financially stressed, confided in her client. â€œSarah was always saying that God was in control and to have faith that there is a reason for everything,â€ Mrs. Steele said. â€œWe would say it together.â€

Mrs. Steele became engaged. In June 2006, Ms. Palin attended her bridal shower, presenting her with a bright red coffeepot.

â€œWhen she became governor,â€ Mrs. Steele said, â€œshe still came to my small salon in my small town to get her hair done, instead of Anchorage, the big cityâ€ â€” an hourâ€™s drive away. Mrs. Steele gave birth to her third child and began bringing the baby to the Beehive. When Ms. Palin asked how she was doing, Mrs. Steele burst into tears, overwhelmed by competing needs.

â€œSarah said: â€˜If you love what you do, if you were a stay-at-home mom, a part of you would miss what you love. And if you were at work, youâ€™d miss your kids,â€™ â€ she recalled. Ms. Palin told her â€œnot to make excuses for why I am not a stay-at-home mom or have my kids at the shop.â€

When Mrs. Steele expressed frustration with her industry, Ms. Palin told her to stop complaining and â€œrun for something!â€ (She didnâ€™t.)

Mrs. Steeleâ€™s fourth pregnancy overlapped with Mrs. Palinâ€™s fifth. â€œShe kept it quiet,â€ Mrs. Steele said. â€œBut I remember her hair was acting different. And I thought, â€˜Something is going on!â€™ â€

For the May baby shower for Trig Palin, the Beehive women filled a basket overflowing with homemade gifts: baby blankets, including one sewn from material with salmon and moose designs, and a breast-feeding blanket. In camouflage.

RIGHT before the Labor Day weekend, Ms. Palinâ€™s office left a message, but Mrs. Steeleâ€™s attempts to return it were in vain. Days later, she learned why Ms. Palin had been so hard to reach.

Since then, she has observed Ms. Palinâ€™s hair evolution. She approves: â€œMe and the girls at the salon were saying weâ€™ll probably not see her anymore because she is on a whole different level. And sheâ€™ll make a huge difference. But a part of us is like: â€˜Ohhhh, weâ€™ll miss her. We wonâ€™t have our woman pep rally in the salon.â€™ â€


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## Dragonfly (Sep 17, 2008)

Although I'm not a fan of Ms Palin's politics, I do think she has great hair!

I love the colour and up-do.


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## Orangeeyecrayon (Sep 17, 2008)

i love sarah palin's up-dos

and i can def see them being done at that saloon with its semi vintage vibe


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## Darla (Sep 17, 2008)

now is that something she would sleep in that way or does she put it up every day?


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## Bec688 (Sep 17, 2008)

She does have nice hair, I have always thought that when seeing her on TV.


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## empericalbeauty (Sep 17, 2008)

I am glad that while people are out there suffering, the media deems it important to report about a hairdresser. Wow.


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## Darla (Sep 17, 2008)

Originally Posted by *empericalbeauty* /img/forum/go_quote.gif I am glad that while people are out there suffering, the media deems it important to report about a hairdresser. Wow. well it is a novelty having a woman running for VP (its been quite a few years since Geraldine Ferraro). I think i have heard enough about her politics and frankly it only seems her appearance is what a lot of people care about. Talk about sexism.


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